Packaging structure

ABSTRACT

A packaging structure for bottles is provided including a reusable bottle carrying tray and a disposable thin cardboard sleeve closing the open top of the tray and engaging the outer walls of the tray.

United States Patent 11 1 1111 3,815,808 Bunnell June 11, 1974 [5PACKAGING STRUCTURE 2,297,284 9/1942 Blackman .229/52B m1 9:50:22 11:22;1111; 9-2-5211;

Omar), Canada 2,907,509 10/1959 Chamberlin 229/23 R [731 Assigneecar'ingoKeefeumitedEast 53333153; 1251322 $12532!5T35111131313111:353/532 Toronto, Canada Filed: June 8, 1972 Appl. N0.: 261,075

U.S. Cl. 229/15, 229/43, 229/51 TS, 229/52 B Int. Cl 865d 5/48, B65d5/54 Field of Search... 229/15, 23 R, 23 BT, 51 TS, 229/52 B, 52 BC, 42,43

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/l9l4 Clark, 229/52 B PrimaryExaminerWilliam I. Price Assistant Examiner-Stephen Marcus Attorney,Agent, or FirmSim & McBumey 5 7 ABSTRACT A packaging structure forbottles is provided including a reusable bottle carrying tray and adisposable thin cardboard sleeve closing the open top of the tray andengaging the outer walls of the tray.

9 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures PACKAGING STRUCTURE This invention relatesto a packaging structure, mainly for bottles, more particularly to apackaging structure for beverage bottles.

Cases and open top trays for the transportation and storage of beveragebottles of many types and designs have been suggested. A variety ofmaterials have been used in the construction of such cases, depending onthe bottles concerned, such as, cardboard, wood, metal and syntheticpolymeric materials.

The present invention is primarily concerned with a packaging structurefor beer bottles, although the structure may be used with other beveragebottles or items.

The term beer is used in a broad sense of this specification to refer toalcoholic liquors obtained by the fermentation of malt or othersaccharine substance and flavored by hops or other bittering agents, andhence includes lagers, ales, stouts and porters.

Beer is packaged for sale to the consumer in many ways, usually in casescontaining six, 12 or 24 bottles. In some areas, such as, the Provinceof Ontario, Canada, such cases commonly are constructed of lightcardboard and the empty bottles are returned by the consumer to the saleoutlet in the cases. The returned bottles are refilled, but the casesare discarded.

In other sales areas, such as, the Province of Quebec, Canada, the caseis constructed of heavy cardboard and is reutilized many times. However,the outer brand identifying material becomes dirty and possibly defacedas the cases are recycled, and as such give rise to sales resistance.

Another problem which is encountered in the reuse of beer cases is thatmany manufacturers market a variety of brands. Hence, upon return of theused cases to the manufacture, it is necessary to sort out the cases,either manually or automatically, into the various brand identificationsfor subsequent re-filling with beer bottles of the appropriate brand.Such sorting operations are time consuming and costly.

In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a packagingstructure comprising a bottle carrying tray having upright side wallsand end walls, a bottom wall and an open top, and a disposable sleeve ofcardboard material closing the top of the tray and surrounding said sideand end walls.

The sleeve is provided with opening means so that the consumer may gainaccess to the interior of the case. Any convenient opening means, suchas perforations or a zip top may be provided. Usually coincidingopenings are provided in the end walls of the tray and the sleeve toassist in the transporation of the structure.

By providing a disposable sleeve in combination with a tray which may beutilized a plurality of times, brand identifying material, and any otherdesired information may be printed on the sleeve, and a new sleeve isemployed each time the tray is utilized. The structure therefore has apleasing external appearance to the consumer, when the case is sold.

When the case'is opened, the sleeve may be retained with the tray untilthe used package is returned with the empty bottles to the consumeroutlet and the sleeve is discarded during the recycle of the tray forfurther use. The sleeve in this way acts as a protective outer coveringfor the tray and assists in reducing damage of various sorts to the trayand hence the number of times the tray may be reutilized may beextended. The waste disposal problem caused by the discarding of thesleeves thereby is considerably reduced as compared to the one-tripcardboard cases mentioned above.

The tray, without the discarded sleeve, is refilled with bottles and anew sleeve is added in any convenient manner to complete the structure.

Alternatively, after opening of the case, the sleeve may be discarded bythe consumer and the tray returned with the empty bottles. [n thisinstance, the tray again is reused many times.

The tray may be constructed of any convenient durable material, forexample, any of the materials mentioned above, namely, heavy-dutycardboard, wood, metal and synthetic polymeric materials.

Since polymeric materials have an excellent combination of usefulproperties, such as, strength and wear resistance and hence have longlife; washability and lightness, it is preferred to employ suchmaterials in the construction of the trays for use in the structure ofthe present invention.

As used herein, the term synthetic polymeric material is utilized torefer to those synthetic polymeric materials which are capable ofextrusion or molding to a formed article and does not include thosepolymeric substances which are incapable of or are otherwise unsuitablefor the production of formed articles, such as cellulose nitrate.Synthetic polymeric materials are commonly referred to as plastics andthe latter term will be used in this specification in that sense.

The plastic trays utilized preferably are of the type described andclaimed in copending application Ser. No. 260,815 filed June 8, 1972,although any desired form of plastic tray may be employed. Generallysuch plastic trays include side walls, end walls, a bottom wall and anopen top. Dividers are provided within the container to provide aplurality of individual compartments for receiving bottles. Preferably,the side and end walls extend upwardly from the bottom wall tosubstantially the height of the bottles to be stored in the case.

Usually plastic trays may be utilized considerably more times thancardboard trays. Additionally, a plastic tray may be constructed rigidlyso that deformation of the structure during carrying is reduced.

This structure therefore represents a considerable advance in thepackaging and sale of beer. The structure is superior to the one-tripcardboard container since the bulk of the case in the present inventionis reusable many times, and has advantages over the heavy cardboardreusable case mentioned above. Thus, by using a disposable outer sleeve,for each trip that the tray makes a fresh sleeve is used, therebyavoiding the soiling problem mentioned above. Additionally, since a newsleeve, with suitable brand identifying material, is used for each useof the tray, upon return of the used trays to the manufacturer, with orwithout the used cardboard sleeve, it is not necessary to sort out thetrays into the various brands, as is necessary as mentioned above, withthe heavy cardboard reusable case. Hence, manual or automatic brandsorting is eliminated and the economy of the operation thereby isimproved.

The invention is described further by way of illustration with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded view of a beer case structure inaccordance with the invention; and

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the assembled structure of FIG. 1.

In the drawings, a beer bottle packaging structure includes a plastictray 12 or other convenient material tray in which are positioned beerbottles 13. The tray 12 may have any convenient construction, andincludes side walls 14 and end walls 16 extending upwardly from a bottomwall (not shown). The tray 12 has an open top allowing access to theinterior of the tray 12. Dividers 20 are provided within the tray toprovide individual bottle-receiving compartments in the tray 12. Theexternal faces of the side and end walls 14 and 16 are generally smooth,but any convenient construction may be provided. Hand holes 22 areprovided in the end walls 16 of the tray 12 to aid in carrying thestructure.

In the tray 12, the side walls 14 and the end walls 16 extend upwardlyfrom the bottom wall a distance substantially equal to the height of abeer bottle 13, or other item, to be positioned in the case. Thisconstruction is preferred and as indicated above any other desired formof tray 12 may be employed.

An outer sleeve 24 completes the structure and closes the open top ofthe tray 12. The sleeve 24 includes a top panel 26 which is coextensivewith the open top of the tray 12. Side panels 28 extend downwardly fromthe top panel 26 any desired distance, generally coextensive with theheight of the side walls 14 of the tray 12. Additionally end panels 30extend downwardly from the top panel 26, usually the same distance asthe side panels 28, preferably coextensive with the height of the endwalls 16 of the tray 12. By providing side and end panels 28 and 30which are coextensive with the side and end walls 14 and 16 of the tray12 there is provided a packaging structure with a pleasing externalappearance, and substantially the whole of the external surfaceof thetray 12, with the exception of the bottom wall, is enclosed andprotected by the outer sleeve 24.

The side panels 28 and the end panels 30 are attached to the top panel26 in any convenient manner. Usually the sleeve 24 is formed from asingle piece of thin cardboard which is folded around the tray 12 andhence the panels 28 and 30 in this structure are integrally joined tothe top panel 26 for fold lines.

The side panels 28 and the end panels 30 also are joined to each otherin any convenient manner, preferably so that the sleeve 24 tightlyengages the outer walls of the tray 12 and may not readily be removedtherefrom.

Brand identification material, and any other desired information,usually is printed on the exterior surface of the sleeve 24.

To assist in the carrying of the structure 10, in the end panels 30 areprovided openings 32 (only one of which is shown) complimentary with thehand holes 22 in the end walls 16 of the tray 12. By providing theopenings 32 in the sleeve 24, access to the hand holes 22 in the tray 12by the carrier is readily achieved.

A tape or zip opener 34 is provided extending the length of the toppanel 26 to allow access to the interior of the structure 10. It is notessential that the top opener 34 extend the whole length of the toppanel 26, and any other convenient means of gaining access to theinterior of the structure 10 through the top panel 26 of the sleeve 24may be provided.

Once the sleeve 24 is opened and access to the interior of the structureis achieved, the sleeve may be discarded. The sleeve 24 may beconstructed so that upon opening it falls away or is readily removable,from the tray 12, and hence is discarded by the consumer. Alternatively,the sleeve 24 may be formed so that the packaging structure 10 istemporarily reclosable.

After consumption of the beer, the bottles may be returned to theplastic tray 12 and the tray may be returned with the empty bottles tothe retail outlet. Where the sleeve 24 is of a form allowing reclosureof the structure 10, usually the sleeve and tray both are returned,although the sleeve subsequently is discarded. However, where the sleeve24 is of the form which is readily removable from the tray, only thetray 12 is returned.

In this way the plastic tray 12 may be reused many times for the sale ofbeer bottles before it is necessary to discard the same, and in eachreuse a new sleeve 24 is provided. While the present invention has beendescribed particularly with reference to the packaging of beer bottles,the invention clearly may be utilized in the packaging of other beveragebottles.

The manner of formation of the packaging structure 10 is not criticaland any convenient manner may be adopted. Generally, the operationinvolves the positioning of a blank of the sleeve 24 on the open top ofthe tray 12 and the folding around of the side and end panels 28 and 30and securing of the side and end panels 28 and 30 to each other.

Modifications are possible within the scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A packaging structure comprising a substantially rigid tray includinga bottom wall, side walls and end walls extending upwardly from saidbottom wall and terminating in an open top, a disposable sleeveconstructed of light cardboard closing said open top, said sleeveincluding a top panel extending coextensively with the open top of thetray, side panels extending downwardly in gripping frictional engagementwith the outer surface of the side walls of said tray, end panelsextending downwardly in gripping frictional engagement with the outersurface of the end walls of said tray, said side and end panelsextending downwardly from said top panel a distance substantially equalto the height of said side and end walls, and sleeve opening meanspositioned in said top panel for opening said sleeve to join across tosaid tray through its open top while retaining said side and end panelsof said sleeve in said gripping frictional engagement with said side andend walls of said tray.

2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said tray is constructed ofsynthetic polymeric material.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein said sleeve has printed thereoncontent-identifiying material.

4. The structure of claim 1 wherein said structure has beer bottlescontained therein.

5. The structure of claim 1 wherein said tray includes divider meanswithin said case dividing the space into a plurality of beverage bottlecontaining compartments, and wherein said side walls and end wallsextend upwardly a distance substantially equal to the height of saidbottles and said top panel of said sleeve engages the tops of saidbottles.

6. The structure of claim 5 wherein each of said side walls and endwalls has a smooth outer face.

7. The structure of claim 5 wherein each of said side openings areprovided in each of said end walls and end and end walls has a smoothouter face and said side panels to assist in the carrying of saidstructure. panels and end panels grip said side walls and end walls. 9.The structure of claim 1 wherein said side and end panels of said sleeveare integral with said top panel.

8. The structure of claim 1 wherein complimentary 5 3 ,815, 808 June 111974 Patent No. D t d Inventor(s) Arthur I unnell It is certified thaterrgr appears in the above-identified patent and that said LettersPatent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column}, line 50, "joinacross" should read gain access Signegi andsealedthis 10th day of December 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

a 'McCOY M. GIBSONJR. c. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner ofPatents FOMRM po 1o5o (10-69) Q USCOMM-DC 8O 376-P6 9 U15 GOVERNMENTPRINTING OFFICE: 0

1. A packaging structure comprising a substantially rigid tray includinga bottom wall, side walls and end walls extending upwardly from saidbottom wall and terminating in an open top, a disposable sleeveconstructed of light cardboard closing said open top, said sleeveincluding a top panel extending coextensively with the open top of thetray, side panels extending downwardly in gripping frictional engagementwith the outer surface of the side walls of said tray, end panelsextending downwardly in gripping frictional engagement with the outersurface of the end walls of said tray, said side and end panelsextending downwardly from said top panel a distance substantially equalto the height of said side and end walls, and sleeve opening meanspositioned in said top panel for opening said sleeve to join across tosaid tray through its open top while retaining said side and end panelsof said sleeve in said gripping frictional engagement with said side andend walls of said tray.
 2. The structure of claim 1 wherein said tray isconstructed of synthetic polymeric material.
 3. The structure of claim 1wherein said sleeve has printed thereon content-identifiying material.4. The structure of claim 1 wherein said structure has beer bottlescontained therein.
 5. The structure of claim 1 wherein said trayincludes divider means within said case dividing the space into aplurality of beverage bottle containing compartments, and wherein saidside walls and end walls extend upwardly a distance substantially equalto the height of said bottles and said top panel of said sleeve engagesthe tops of said bottles.
 6. The structure of claim 5 wherein each ofsaid side walls and end walls has a smooth outer face.
 7. The structureof claim 5 wherein each of said side and end walls has a smooth outerface and said side panels and end panels grip said side walls and endwalls.
 8. The structure of claim 1 wherein complimentary openings areprovided in each of said end walls and end panels to assist in thecarrying of said structure.
 9. The structure of claim 1 wherein saidside and end panels of said sleeve are integral with said top panel.